The Tale of a Traitor
by The Alien of Pluto
Summary: Contains character death. Title self-explanatory. It's dark.
1. Chapter 1

"_The Storm Hawks and the _Condor_ were destroyed. The alliance quickly crumbled._

_Cyclonia won._

_The traitor was rewarded. Soon, he would be known across Atmos as the _Dark Ace_._

_With the Storm Hawks and the _Condor_ gone, all hope was lost."_

She dodged around the guards at the door, giggling at her imagined stealth, and stole into the room.

The two armed men looked at each other and rolled their eyes, grinning, before turning their attentions back to the empty corridor. Kids would be kids, and it wasn't worth their time to chase her all over the palace.

The young girl peered around the nearly empty room from her position behind a tall potted plant. She couldn't see very much in the dark chamber as smoke curled lazily through the upper half of the room, just above her head. But she spotted her target anyway; sitting as he usually would be, bent over the glossy counter that ran along one side the room.

She smirked a child's smirk and bent down to her hands and knees, inching out from behind the plant. Then she crept across the open space toward the bar, making sure to keep directly behind his back. Last time, he'd seen her coming from the side.

Hand, knee, hand, knee she slunk closer, eyes fixed on the back of his head, ready to freeze should he turn around. She got to within three feet of his chair and he hadn't spotted her. The girl grinned in triumph, straightening up and raising her arms over her head, ready to scare him. She took a deep breath-

"Hello Ana," he said without turning.

-and let it out again, face slipping into a pout. She walked around to the stool on his left, labouriously climbing up the side to sit next to him.

"How did you know I was there?" she demanded, grabbing the counter's edge so she wouldn't slip sideways.

"I've been sneaking around for a long time; I know what to listen for."

She pondered that for a second. "I wasn't making any noise," she argued after a moment of thought.

"Shouldn't you be studying, Ana?" the man asked, staring into his glass of what looked like water.

"Studying's boring," she complained, "I'd rather play with you. You're my friend."

This earned her the usual glare, "I am not your friend, little Cyclonis," he growled at her.

Ana knew to be quiet. She'd learned from experience that pushing him about friendship would make him leave, and he would ignore her for a while. But she stubbornly refused to believe that they weren't friends. He was the only adult that wouldn't send her away, and occasionally he even brought her treats after a mission. Besides, why wouldn't he want to be friends?

She let her eyes wander the room as he glared at the wall across from them and took a gulp of his drink. She'd wait for a minute, and then bring up a new topic. As her gaze drifted down, a glint of metal caught her eye. Something round and shiny was hanging by a tiny chain to his belt.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the medallion.

The man seemed to start. He set his glass down and put a hand to the medal, unclipping it. Ana leaned closer, staring curiously at the emblem of a blue bird with its wings spread wide.

"What is it?" she repeated, reaching over slowly to take it from him. His long fingers wrapped around the pendant before she could touch it, and he moved it closer to his chest, as if to protect it.

"Storm Hawks," he said quietly, almost regretfully Ana thought.

"But they were the enemy," she said, confused, "why do you have that?"

His fist clenched around the medal and his brows slipped lower into a glare. "They were my team," he growled, "before the last battle."

"_What?"_ The revelation froze the young girl as she stared at the top commander of the Cyclonian army. He was Atmosian?

"But…" she didn't believe it, "how could you be Mother's most trusted officer if you used to be a Sky Knight?"

"Some things change, Ana," he said, 'I stopped caring. She knows that."

"But that would make you a traitor. You're not a traitor, even to the Sky Knights! You're not like that!"

He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "I told you I wasn't your friend Ana. You don't know me."

"Please?" She felt tears in her eyes at the betrayal, felt her bottom lip quivering.

"Tell me," she begged him, "what happened?"

He looked down at the little girl, his expression stoic, "You don't want to know."

"I do!" she wailed, "Tell me!"

The man glanced around the room and saw the other occupants were all staring curiously at them. They didn't know his history either. He sighed, putting a hand to his forehead.

"You want to know?"

She nodded. The Talons inched closer.

"It's not happy," he warned her, "maybe in the beginning, but not in the middle, and definitely not in the end."

She nodded, staring determinedly through the tears still gathered in her eyes.

"Fine," he relented, twisting the bar stool to face the room but keeping his gaze on the girl.

"It was ten years ago, almost to the day," he began, "the battle to end all battles…"

* * *

**_Ana for Anarchis, the original name for Cyclonis._**

**_Came up with this while listening to Placebo's version of 'Running Up that Hill,' and Billy Talent's 'Rusted from the Rain.'_**


	2. Chapter 2

The man settled into the bar stool, meeting the eyes of everyone present before turning his focus on the young Cyclonis, Ana, and beginning his story.

"I was stupid, I'd gotten us cornered. My wingman had found us transportation but I'd stayed behind to take care of one last thing. I didn't need to, would've been smarter not to, but I did."

He put his elbow on the counter, held his head in his hand, "I was winning, at least until your mother stepped in. You see, she has this power to…power others. Manipulate crystal energy to do_ anything_, even enhance someone's body. I was knocked down. My navigator saved me, and we tried to run, but your mother followed. They shot us down, and very nearly destroyed us."

The man gave a bitter chuckle, shaking his head slightly, "But my navigator had that power too, called it the Binding, only she didn't have full control over her power. It was sucking the life out of her. Your mother was too confident, didn't suspect that we could overcome that hurdle, but we did."

Ana blinked and some of the Talons looked uncomfortable: nobody liked to doubt the power of the Master.

"Something happened and we achieved what's called 'Perfect Attunement.' It healed my navigator, gave us both strength, and we fought back. We were more than enough for your mother and her partner, and I think she panicked. Cyclonis turned on the one person who'd stayed to fight for her, loading him with so much power that he exploded."

Ana gasped, tears springing to her eyes.

"He died?"

The traitor nodded and continued,

"My navigator and I turned to your mother, but she ran. She flew back into the hangar of her palace, even as it crumbled away beneath her, and headed for a door that could take her to safety. We headed her off; my navigator shot a pulse of the Binding energy at the portal and overloaded it. Your mother surrendered."

Several of the Talon soldiers grumbled at this.

"With Cyclonis under our power, we won the war. We brought her to Atmosia and handed her to the Sky Knight Council where she was forced to recall her troops and free the Terras. We left her to rot in the Atmosia Stockade. She escaped obviously, but anyway…We celebrated: we were all together, we had our _Condor_, and we'd actually won the war. All of us were alive and well, healed."

Ana gave a small smile and a tiny clap for him. The man just frowned back,

"Later, my navigator and I realized what Perfect Attunement meant, when we finally admitted our feelings for each other out loud. My wingman was ecstatic, of course but we took it slow, still too used to the idea that every day could be the day we died in combat to real let go. We talked, held hands, sat together under the stars and all that."

He sighed heavily, clenching the Storm Hawks pendant tighter in his fist.

"Then we finally got up the courage to go one step farther…"

_The _Condor- _Ten Years Ago_

The _Condor_ floated lazily through the skies, boasting shiny repairs and a new paint job after the last battle. The Storm Hawks were taking a well-deserved break, adjusting to the new peace in the Atmos.

The Sky Knight, his copilot, and the wingman were sitting at the round table on the bridge, all clutching a hand of cards, and bent over stacks of poker chips.

"Ha!" the blonde cried in triumph, slapping down a set of cards, "Can't beat that!"

The Sky Knight grinned, "No?" He carefully laid out higher set, grinning as the wingman's expression fell.

Suddenly another hand slammed onto the table, and the copilot barked out a laugh as he flashed an undefeatable hand. He scooped up the other boys' chips, adding them to the already large pile in front of him.

"Aw man," the blonde wingman whined, "I don't know how you do it, dude, but you're on fire."

The Sky Knight smiled good-naturedly, "I fold. I've got nothing left to bet."

He stood up, slipping around his chair and heading for the bridge doors. The red and yellow panel slid up and he almost walked into the girl on the other side.

"Oops!" he jumped back, just missing her. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Hey," she grinned as he rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. The navigator reached for his hand, turning him around and leading him back onto the bridge. He wound his fingers through hers and walked a few steps with her. But when they reached the middle of the largest empty space, he swung her back around so that she ended up with her chest against his.

The others coughed and turned back to what they were the doing, the wingman and the copilot their cards, and the pilot and the mechanic to their basic chores.

"So, I was thinking…" he started, staring down into her eyes.

She wound the fingers of her other hand into his, blushing as she held his gaze, "Yeah?"

"I was thinking…I wanted to try…" he dipped his head a bit, looking slightly lost.

The navigator caught on quickly. She closed her eyes and stretched up on her toes, briefly touching her lips to his. They pulled away quickly.

"How was that?" the Sky Knight asked.

"Perfect," the navigator smiled.

She closed her eyes, stretching up again. This time they stayed locked at the lips, enjoying the new experience, testing it.

The bridge fell from their thoughts, all notion of the others watching, cheering, slipped away. It was only them and infinity, twined together. It was bliss, better than winning the war. It sparked a heat in their hearts and something at the back of their minds whispered, 'it was right.'

None of them noticed though, when the girl's hands began to glow a clear blue, or when the glow spread up his arms and across his chest. But when the aura had completely enveloped him, when he seemed to choke, and pulled away, only then did they blink and see.

The girl dropped his arms like they had become too hot for her to touch, and she backed up, shaking her head defiantly. She clenched her fists, squeezing her eyes shut, willing the power away. But it wouldn't listen; it flowed from her fingers, through the air, to join the swirling aura around the Sky Knight.

He screamed, clutching at his head, staggering backwards. The others jumped to their feet, surrounding him, not knowing what to do, but wanting to help. The mechanic was shoved violently backwards when he tried to grab the screaming Knight. The girl sobbed, staring, unable to stop the energy, unable look away from him.

The aura swelled and he was lifted off his feet. His screams doubled, and he threw his chest out, his arms curling back as he fought the power. His eyes wrenched open; blue light covered the pupils, pulsing out, and it spilled out from his mouth. His legs and arms curled involuntarily and he folded himself into a ball.

The navigator sobbed uncontrollably, desperately clenching and unclenching her fists, trying to call the power back. The eyes of the other Storm Hawks widened as they saw what was coming.

The glowing Sky Knight screamed one last time, throwing out his arms and his legs and unleashing the power flowing through him.

_Present Day_

"When I woke up," the man said, "I was laying facing down in the dirt, surrounded by the burning, twisted wreckage of the _Condor_. I knew it was hopeless, but I searched for my friends anyway. I found nothing. Nothing was left of them, of my home, of me."

He drew in a shaky breath, blinking back tears that threatened to spill, and slid to his feet. Ana sat petrified, kneeling on a bar stool in a smoky room on Cyclonia, surrounded by equally stunned Talon soldiers.

"You wanted to know my story, Ana Cyclonis. My name was Aerrow; I was the Sky Knight of the Storm Hawks. And I killed my family."

Aerrow pressed the Storm Hawks pendent into the girl's small hands.

"You wanted to know," he reminded her, as he squared his shoulders, and walked from the room without a backward glance.

* * *

**_So, in this version of the universe it's (obviously) several years later and didn't end like the show did. _**

**_He's not so much a traitor as it was an accident and he blamed himself and stopped caring..._**

**_Cyclonia took over the Atmos again, and he just kinda went with it, and ended up the new Champion of Cyclonia because Cyclonis knew how good he was. There's some thinking involved here, y'know?  
_**


End file.
